Bankless The State of Authoritarian Tech | Steven Feldstein
50 snips
Oct 2, 2025 Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at Carnegie focusing on technology and human rights, delves into the dark world of authoritarian tech. He discusses the alarming rise of surveillance tools, algorithmic censorship, and AI-driven policing globally. Feldstein shares insights on how protesters in Nepal creatively leveraged encryption to organize against government censorship, and warns that AI's predictive policing poses serious risks. He also highlights the role of cryptocurrencies as a means of resistance, underlining the intricate relationship between technology and modern repression.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Repression Tech Is Rapidly Maturing
- Digital repression is becoming cheaper, more effective, and ubiquitous worldwide.
- Governments have shifted from naive liberation-tech expectations to actively using these tools.
The Four-Part Repression Toolkit
- Digital repression includes surveillance, censorship, disinformation, and internet shutdowns as distinct but overlapping tools.
- Regimes coordinate these tools into a system of repression to monitor, silence, and disrupt dissent.
Nepal: Discord, Crypto, And Backfire
- Nepal protesters (Gen Z) used Discord, Signal, Telegram, and crypto to organize and bypass restrictions.
- Government suspension of platforms backfired, escalating protests and forcing the prime minister to resign.
